Number of people at risk of poverty decreased in 2012

According to the preliminary data of Statistics
Finland's Income distribution statistics, the number of persons at
risk of poverty decreased by around 70,000 in 2012. In 2012,
approximately 635,000 persons belonged to households whose
disposable monetary income per consumption unit was below 60 per
cent of the national average income. The at-risk-of-poverty rate
was 11.9 per cent, which was 1.3 percentage points lower than in
2011.

Number of persons at risk of poverty, 1987 to
2012*

*The data concerning 2012 are preliminary.

Households' median income and the at-risk-of-poverty threshold
calculated based on it, as well as the median income of persons at
risk of poverty have remained in real terms roughly at the same
level in the past few years, only the number of persons at risk of
poverty has decreased. The at-risk-of-poverty threshold was EUR
13,990 in 2012.

At-risk-of-poverty rate decreased in all age groups last year
apart from those aged 25 to 34, whose poverty risk remained
unchanged. When examining the time after 2005, poverty risk of
those aged 65 or over has particularly decreased. Poverty risk
among those aged 75 or over decreased most clearly. Poverty risk
is, however, still highest among people aged 75 or over and under
25. Under 18-year-old children belonging to low income households
as a proportion of all under 18-year-olds was 9.4 per cent in 2012
(11.1 per cent in 2011).

The at-risk-of-poverty rate also decreased compared with 2011
when using tighter income criteria. There were around 290,000
persons whose household's disposable monetary income per
consumption unit was lower than 50 per cent of the equivalent
median monetary income of all households in 2012. In the previous
year, there was 325,000 such persons. (
Database table 5a .)

When asked whether the household's income is sufficient to cover
normal expenses, fewer low income households than before had
difficulties making their ends meet. The assessments concerning the
sufficiency of income among other households also improved to some
degree. (
Database table 5d. )

Persistent risk of poverty described by the total statistics on
income distribution also declined by 0.3 percentage points in 2012.
The drop was clearest among the population aged 65 or over, and
especially among women. Persistent risk of poverty among elderly
persons has slowly declined since 2008 by several percentage
points. The persistence of poverty risk is measured with an
indicator that depicts income in a four-year period. Poverty risk
is persistent if a household's equivalent income is less than 60
per cent of the median income at least twice during this period, in
addition to the statistical reference year. ( Database
table 9 of the total statistics on income distribution .)